Ohio's efforts at boosting education have fallen flat

Saturday

Oct 30, 2010 at 12:01 AMOct 30, 2010 at 6:55 AM

As a school superintendent, I feel compelled to respond to two key educational issues that continued to make headlines over the past three months: the director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission and the evidence-based school-funding model.

As a school superintendent, I feel compelled to respond to two key educational issues that continued to make headlines over the past three months: the director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission and the evidence-based school-funding model.

In the Ohio inspector general's report, issued Aug. 5, as reported in a Dispatch article Aug. 6 , Richard Murray, the executive director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission, was found to have abused his authority by participating in union “arm-twisting” to pressure school officials to use union labor. Also in this report, Murray agreed that he was supposed to remain neutral.

On Aug. 14, The Dispatch reported that Murray “acknowledged yesterday that he's not neutral when it comes to supporting unions — and said he's not supposed to be, not by law or by agency policy.”

School districts have a choice of determining if their Ohio School Facilities Commission building-construction projects are prevailing wage or not (accepting the lowest responsible bid). I find troubling that someone such as this continues to be entrusted with overseeing one of the most successful school-building programs in the country and spending almost $3 million daily, despite calls by major newspapers across the state for his resignation or his firing by Gov. Ted Strickland.

As reported in The Dispatch Oct. 15, a lawsuit has been filed by residents of Richland County against Strickland, his chief of staff, the commission and others “alleging that they engaged in a pattern of corrupt activity by favoring unions in school-construction contracts” in several Ohio counties.

Taxpayers should not have been subjected to additional costs for school construction because of these actions by individuals such as Murray in positions of authority and trust.

The evidence-based model is favored by Strickland; John Kasich has stated the model will not be implemented if he becomes governor. Quite simply, the cost to implement the model, complete with the requirement for school districts to add building managers, social workers, noninstructional aides and additional teachers to meet the student-teacher ratio of 15-to-1 in grades kindergarten through third by 2014, etc., is overwhelming.

With an expected $8 billion budget shortfall in the next biennium, adding these costs to financially strapped districts and residents is a major concern. One of the architects of the model, Lawrence O. Picus, a University of Southern California professor, concluded in his remarks to the School Funding Advisory Council that the model will double student achievement in four to seven years, and that states have the financial resources now to implement this plan.

Unfortunately, there is no evidence to support such a notion. Wyoming, the state most often mentioned that has adopted the model, was rated No.?34 in the much respected Education Week 2010 State Rankings of Educational Systems, and that state’s per-pupil costs have jumped dramatically since implementation.

Ohio was ranked No.?5 before the model was adopted, and no state that has adopted the model ranked higher than Ohio.

JOHN SCHEU

Superintendent

Hardin-Houston Local SchoolsHouston

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